Johnson to Receive Pratt Severn Student Paper Award

Posted on July 15, 2019 by Lydia Middleton

The Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) is delighted to announce that Matthew Weirick Johnson has been selected as the 2019 recipient of the Pratt Severn Best Student Research Paper Award. The purpose of the award is to encourage student research and writing in the field of information science.

Johnson’s paper, entitled “Dating Apps, Categorical Fields, and Health Information Sharing: Exploring the Utility of Dating Application Features Related to HIV, STIs and PrEP for Promoting Regular Testing and PrEP Usage” was selected from among a pool of outstanding candidates who were judged based on criteria including: technical competence in information science; significance of information science findings; originality; clarity of expression; compliance with JASIST instructions; style; and organization.

Matthew Weirick Johnson is a Humanities and Social Sciences Librarian at the University of California, Los Angeles. Johnson recently graduated with an MSLS from the University of North Carolina’s School of Information and Library Science with two graduate certificates in public health.

In selecting Johnson’s paper, one juror said, “I believe that this paper makes a significant contribution to two LIS areas of increasing concern – health informatics and the sociocultural nature of information practices…I would cite it in conversation with some of my own research findings.”

Another juror said, “The study of queer men’s behavior on dating apps is original and well executed. The author was investigating the effect of several dating app features of behavior based on the qualitative inquiry. The literature review is extensive and grounds the study well in theory.”

Upon learning of his selection as the Pratt Severn Award winner, Johnson said, “I’m honored to receive this award and grateful for the opportunity to share my work at the annual meeting and in JASIST. I’m thankful to the members of the jury, my advisor Dr. Amelia Gibson, and the participants who agreed to share their stories with me. I look forward to continuing this line of research.”

Johnson will receive his award at the 2019 meeting of the Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) which will be held in Melbourne, Australia, October 19-23, 2019.